1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mounting support which is intended to be fixed beneath the sole of a cyclist's shoe and is adapted to cooperate with shoe-fastening or retaining means carried by a bicycle pedal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It may be considered that mounting supports of this type fall into two categories.
In a first category, a mounting support for a so-called pedal-fitting is designed in the form of a small plate provided with a transverse groove for engaging the pedal-fitting on the rear sawtooth edge of a conventional pedal frame (equipped with a toe-clip) in order to prevent any slippage of the shoe in the longitudinal direction during pedaling motion. Pedal-fittings of this type are described for example in French patents No. 2,397,319 and No. 1,391,970 as well as in the French Certificate of Utility No. 2,438,867.
Mounting plates of the second category are designed for use with specially adapted pedals not fitted with toe-clips. In this case, the shoe is fastened to the pedal solely by retaining means carried by the pedal and engaged with the mounting support. The fastening system usually permits rapid disengagement of the cyclist's foot (without any manual assistance), either by intentional action produced by the cyclist prior to stopping or automatically in the event of a fall. Mounting supports of this type are illustrated for example in French Certificate of Utility No. 2,485,226 (FIG. 17), French patents No. 2,315,875 and No1,030,485 and in French patent Application filed by the present Applicant under No. 83-20185 (U.S. application Ser. No. 06/875,240).
Mounting supports for cycling shoes are usually made of high-strength material having a high degree of hardness and especially of light metal (aluminum alloy) or of plastics having high mechanical characteristics (acetal resin, for example). Thus the mounting supports can be securely fastened to the sole of the cycling shoe (usually by means of screws and/or nails) and are capable of effectively transmitting the pedaling efforts from the shoe to the pedal while having a very long service life. Unfortunately, the disadvantage of cycling shoes fitted with mounting supports of this type lies in the fact that these latter make it difficult to walk normally. In fact, an impact takes place each time the mounting support comes into contact with the ground and this produces a disagreable feeling. Furthermore, any material having high strength and hardness usually has a low coefficient friction with the result that the mounting support slides readily on smooth ground and that walking with these mounting plates consequently proves difficult and even presents a potential hazard.
In the first Addition No. 59,316 to French patent No 967,277, it has already been proposed to construct a pedal-fitting of flexible material (such as leather or rubber, for example), apparently for the sole purpose of absorbing sound while walking. The groove of the pedal-fitting is protected by a metal lining which is intended to prevent damage.
A similar design solution is described in Belgian patent No. 495,635.
Although it appears likely that these pedal-fittings facilitate normal walking, they do not prove entirely satisfactory at the present time since the considerable and sometimes violent pedaling efforts exerted by modern racing cyclists are liable to produce very rapid deformation of said pedal-fittings and to result in premature damage.
French patent No. 2,403,757 proposes a different solution which consists in providing beneath the cycling shoe a protective covering in the form of a non-slip pad. This pad is so arranged as to be capable of selectively taking up either of two positions, namely an active work position in which the pad covers the pedal-fitting and a withdrawn position for pedaling in which it uncovers said pedal-fitting. Once again, however, this solution does not prove wholly satisfactory since the cyclist is obliged to displace the position of the non-slip pad when he dismounts from the bicycle in order to walk and conversely when he remounts on the bicycle for pedalling. This operation is inconvenient and takes a long time to perform, which is unacceptable in certain sporting events and in particular cyclo-cross racing.